We have two days of aerification in the books so far with a limited staff, keeping our distance and getting a lot of great work done. Fortunately the weather has been great too. Later in the week is another story, but we'll see what Mother Nature has in store for us.
First we mowed greens again. Apparently they like warm days after a snowfall. Following the mow, Kyle got busy with the 8-10" deep tines on the kubota tractor. This practice is so important for these greens to help fracture the soil and allow for better drainage and oxygen into the rootzone.
Next we follow up with the shallow 5/8" tine that penetrates through the thatch later. This allows us to get a little more sand into the canopy. With the roller coaster ride of opening and closing and less staff due to all of the restrictions we decided to not pull a core this year. It helps with man power and skipping this for one season is not going to hurt us in the long run. In the fall we can play a little catch up and core again.
Next comes sand and you know how we love our sand. Golfers do too. Nothing comes close to improving a golf green than sand topdressing. Really, think about it. With all the ball marks and golf spikes that interact with a green each day, sand is the perfect remedy. It fills in imperfections, smooths out ball roll and in many ways, the right amount of topdressing can increase speed too. In this case we are going with the "solution to pollution is dilution" method. Thatch and organic matter build up is the pollution. Here we are just helping to dilute the buildup by adding sand. This method helps save labor and gets the greens back to their standard quicker.
Fairway and tee aerification will continue this week as well. Most tees have been completed. The fairways will take all week and maybe into next week with poor weather on the horizon.
The bad weather may delay us with opening or we could return to tidy up a few things next week on the Maxwell Course. The Pfluger Course will close next week Monday, April 6th - Wednesday April 8th for similar maintenance.
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